Nominate a Name for the Past and Current Era

[Ambiguous Turd]

So the past several wrestling Eras have been labeled, with the names widely accepted by the fans. They are:

1) The Hogan Era
2) The New Generation Era
3) The Attitude Era


Here, it is the year 2009, and like the bunch of slackers we all are, none of us still have a consensus for what to call this particular Era we are in now, but also the past Era, that transpired after the close of the Attitude Era.

The Wikipedia Entry has the Attitude Era taking place between the June 23, 1996 at the King of the Ring where the infamous "Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass" catchphrase was born .... and March 26, 2001, the Monday Night Raw where Vince McMahon announced that he purchased WCW.

With that in mind, we need to decide if we have had one or two separate take place up to this point. And then, determine what their names are, and when they began and ended.

My thoughts are that we have had 2 different Eras between the Attitude Era and today.



The Post Attitude Era

March 26, 2001 marked the beginning of what I would call the "Post Attitude Era", somewhat of a transition period in between the Attitude Era and what we see today.

There were still some edgy moments that took place during this programming, such as Katie Vick, the wedding of Al Wilson and Dawn Marie, the wedding of Billy and Chuck, Hot Lesbian Action, the Live Sex Celebration, etc. However, during the end of this Era, the WWE began transitioning over to a PG oriented product, until the rating officially made the switch.

I would probably mark the end of the Post Attitude Era as being July 22, 2008 when the product officially went Rated PG. That brings us to the next Era.



The PG Era

Kind of self-explanatory. However, I think this name fits the Era, because the WWE should be remembered for this little experiment. They should be held to praise if it succeeds, or held accountable if it fails, so everyone can remember years and years later what exactly went on in this time frame.



With that in mind, I would like to hear your thoughts and nominations for a name of the past Era/Eras, determine whether the Attitude Era extended until July 22, 2008 or if we had an Era in between, and cite a quick explanation on why you named the Era/Eras what you did.

 

[jrcongine]

think you got it nailed down pretty good. couple of comments. Not sure new generation was a era. WWE definately tried to make it one but think in my mind it was more transitional period from hogan to attitude.

It started off very clean cut almost pg era like but towards the end you could easily see more of attitude style like the attitude era with guys like the diesel flipping off undertaker and being a tweener unlike anything seen before.

post attitude should almost be considered new generation as new stars really got mainstream push; like brock, rvd, booker,angle, benoit, eddie. now they were around attitude era but wwe relied on them more than ever now.

 

[The Reaction]

The Golden/Hogan/Rock n' Wrestling Era (1984 - 1992)
The New Generation (1993 - 1998)
The Attitude Era (1998 - 2001)
The Entertainment Era (2002 - present)

Although, I consider the 1980s more about entertainment than wrestling. But if they never went from WWF to WWE, I'd probably call the era, "The Silver Era" or the "Sports Entertainment Era".

 

[jericho3150]

The Golden/Hogan/Rock n' Wrestling Era (1984 - 1992)
The New Generation (1993 - 1998)
The Attitude Era (1998 - 2001)
The Entertainment Era (2002 - present)

Although, I consider the 1980s more about entertainment than wrestling. But if they never went from WWF to WWE, I'd probably call the era, "The Silver Era" or the "Sports Entertainment Era".

I totally agree with that one. It seems like ever since WWF "get the F out" campaign that the main word thrown around is entertainment.

Although I think we could call it 2002-present "The Mehra" because for years now its just been kinda meh... Not terrible but not great. Its really the first era that hasn't progressed too much.past the previous era.

The Hogan Era took the WWF and pro wrestling to new highs in pop culture..

The New Generation saw the end of the big steroid freaks and made it about the athletes. HBK and Bret leading the way in this.

The Attitude Generation reinstalled WWE into the mainstream and saw a much edgier product with Austin Rock DX

The Meh-Era kinda pulled the reigns back and hasn't really progressed much and stayed kinda level as they wait for the next megastar to take it to the next level again.

 

[Blade]

I think the post-attitude era is a good name for the last era. I think that was like Mania 17 till 21. It was like WWE (or rather Vince) were trying to convince themselves it as still the attitude era. So they started writing the 'controversial' (read: stupid) angles.


I think this era will come to be known as the "WWE Universe Era"
The era where WWE tried to generalise the fan base and stick us with the PG ratings.

 

[hArdyPUNKmArk]

I think you have it pretty spot on Lord Sidious. I agree there we are in a second era since the Attitude Era ended. We had the 'post attitude' era and now we are in the 'PG' era or 'Entertainment' era. I think either of these names could work because the PG era is obviously what we are in at the moment but you're right whoever it was above me that said since dropping the 'F' in WWF and making it an 'E' for entertainment all the WWE has been about is entertainment. Now that's not to say that before this they weren't entertaining but just that now it's in your face so much that it is entertainment and not real. Before we had a bit of smoke and clouds in front of us that gave us a feeling of realism in the ring even though we all knew it was 'fake'.... shit i said it!

Since the PG or Entertainment era i don't get that at all now.

 

[bxbigshow]

Honestly while I might not be a fan of it, this most recent era is the Cena Era. Here me out:

It is very similar with what they did in Hogan's time. And with Cena (probably) not going anywhere anytime soon, he will be at the forefront of this new WWE movement. While you can come up with other names, the Attitude Era is also reffered to as the Austin Era because he was the top draw/star that defined it.

With that thinking Cena is the top draw/star that defines WWE PG direction. And while Vince might like a PG Era, I doubt the pro wrestling gods will allow it. So the Cena Era fits.

I'm not a big fan of his but he defines Vince's direction.

Sidebar: Most of these 'Eras' envelop WWF/E's place in wrestling, and other promotions fall in line. The Hogan Era encompasses the NWA and Flair as I've never heard a Flair Era term.
The Attitude Era holds true because of the content that Nitro and Raw was putting out, and ECW's position fits. But there isn't a WCW Era, Nitro Era, Hardcore/ECW era. It all goes under Attitude (& sometimes Mon. Night Wars, but that defines a specific embedded in a generalization)

How will TNA fare in this new Era? Should the name embrace what they're trying to bring to the sport/entertainment?

I think unless they break out, they will be lost in whatever name we bestow this time.

 

[Sean Valjean]

The Reaction nailed it with the Entertainment Era. I honestly can't think of a better name than that.

They replaced Federation with Entertainment and since then the WWE has been moving away from being just a "wrestling" company and more towards an all-around "entertainment" company. With all the movies, music, even down to the set ups for the weekly shows; everything just seems like a huge production for just some wrestling.

I'm not sure if I explained myself well because this is a bit hard to explain. But calling this the Entertainment Era just seems perfect to me and is what I'll refer to it now.

 

[Captain America]

After the attitude era there was the short lived Ruthless Aggression era. As for the current era, I don't know what to call it. It's not really to distinctive. Nothing really stands out. I'd say we'll have to wait a couple years for the beginning of a new era.

 

[RawIsRamsey]

Let's say the Attitude Era died shortly after the InVasion angle (good reference point, so we'll say it starts in 2002). I'd put the period from 2002-2005 the Workrate Era, as this is when guys like Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Edge, Lord Voldemort, Brock Lesnar, Rey Mysterio, and others were coming in and main eventing with spectacular matches, getting over a new breed of technical superstars. This is also when future main eventers were being debuted and groomed (Cena, Orton, Batista). Even the veterans were putting on great matches (Taker, HBK, Flair, Trips). We also saw the Attitude Era's two biggest stars, Austin and The Rock, slowly burn out and slip away. The emphasis was on great wrestling and athletic ability and not showmanship, despite the name change to World Wrestling Entertainment.

From 2005-2007, we'll call the Entertainment Era, as the focus began to switch to more gimmicky, "entertaining" characters. The workrate was toned down to prevent injury, midgets started coming in, there was the Boogeyman fiasco, the Vince McMahon whodunits...but this era was horribly scarred by the deaths of Eddie Guerrero and Lord Voldemort, which may have inadvertantly signaled the end of the Workrate Era stars. Even some of the more workrate heavy guys like Edge and Rey Mysterio turned down their styles to adapt to the new safer, "WWE Main Event style".

From 2008-now we should call Project PG. The WWE is attempting to skew more to kids, while still creating compelling characters for adults...kind of the Pixar/Dreamworks approach to filmmaking. However, it's turning away the hardcore fans who are clamoring for a new workrate era and it's not bringing in any new fans due to it's lack of eye-catching characters...everything is becoming rather safe and cookie cutter, especially due to the current economical situation (they don't want to piss off any sponsers like they did during the PTC fiasco). However, it has given the chance for some characters to evolve in better ways (Orton, Edge, and Jericho's heel characters have all stepped up since this new era started and Shawn Michaels has found ways to still be HBK).

 

[quink987]

you had.....................

the golden age 1984 - 1992

you had the likes of hulk hogan pathing the way for the wwe and making wrestling cool to watch and making it mainstream.you had the classic good guy vs bad guy and the good guy always winning. you had great heels who made hogan look like superman ted diebase,roddy piper and andrea the gaint and you had classic mat wrestling with randy savage and steamboat.

the next generation 1993 - 1997

you had the next generation of wrestlers stepping up to the main event the likes of bret hart,hbk,kevin nash,scott hall,lex luger.yokozuna,undertaker and you had up and comers coming though the mid card like steve austin,the rock and triple h and you had the famous ladder match to prove the hogan era had finnally gone for good.


the attitude era 1997 - 2001

for me wrestlemania 13 was the start of the attitude era cause bret hart turned heel austin came a insent main eventer thanks to bret hart then you had hbk turn heel and form dx bret getting screwed.the hole austin/mcmanhon feud,mankind/undertaker hell in the cell. dx doing what they do best entertain us and the hole racist thing with the nation/doa and savio vagas group feuding and i think when the invasion started thats when the attitude era died.

the goodbye era 2002 - 2005

i call it the goodbye era because you had the likes of ric flair,scott steiner,kevin nash,scott hall,hulk hogan all return and have have one last run as main eventers.you had goldberg have a year long run as a main eventer and brock lesner dominating for 2 years.we said said goodbye to stone cold and the rock to the NWO(hogan,nash,hall) brock lesner,goldberg,scott steiner ric flair became more of a manger then a wrestler we said goodbye to eddie guerrero.

the entertainment era 2005 - present

you got john cena and batista becoming main eventers and either of them can wrestler but kids love them. rey mysterio became champion, john cena was champion for a year, edge has been champion 12 times but has'nt helt the title more then 3 months but i do beleave wwe are slowly goin back to the attitude era because thair doing more shock's and better storyline like the orton/hhh feud for wrestlemania but even thou the match was shit the buildup was great.


if you look at the era's how they have changed the golden age was to get the kids hooked on wrestling and thats what thair doing with the entertainment era i bet in another few years we will have another attitude era not as good but ok and then when the fans start growing up they will do it all over again with another kiddy era and so forth.

 

[Барбоса]

I think we have entered a new era in the past 12-18 months - the Age of the Heel.

Aside from Undertaker-Michaels at WM25, the highlights of the last two years have been the re-emergence of Chris Jericho, the dominance of Edge and the evolution of Randy Orton. These three have dominated WWE television with their feuds and have made wrestling interesting again (at least for me). Throw in a heel Triple H and I think we are in heel heaven.

However, this has created a problem. There just are not enough faces to take on such great heels. This has seen Triple H needing to stay face just to fill that void. The WWE is not blessed with an abundance of mid-level faces ready to move up to join Undertaker, HBK and Triple H, aside from perhaps CM Punk and Christian. Wrestlemania is a good example for when it was decided that HBK would be the man to face the Undertaker and Ric Flair refusing to get back into the ring, it left Chris Jericho with no one to face. Hence the hastily organised Legend-bashing (which I do believe a well-known Legend Killer had already done). Of course, Jericho's skills enabled something to be rescued from that (along with Steamboat being far better than anyone imagined).

This has also led to John Cena being over-exposed. I do not mind him being cast as the the Hulk Hogan-type superman as it works well opposite the new breed of heels (just look at Edge's unbridled hatred for Cena that almost reduced him to tears at times) and I respect his unbelievable workrate but I do not want to see it every PPV.

Hopefully the draft can throw up some new faces to work with Orton, Jericho and Edge such as Punk, MVP and Christian. If so, then the Age of the Heel could just be gold.

 

[dunkamaniayoung]

The PG Era is good, but I think its just obvious to call it:
The Attitude Adjustment Era

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

I can't call this Era the "Entertainment Era", as that implies that this Era is entertaining. And I don't find just about anything remotely entertaining about this particular Era. I certainly wouldn't want this Era labeled that 20 years from now when it is clearly one of the worst drawing Eras of the past two decades.

The bottom line is that this Era needs to be remembered for The Big Experiment that was tried, and that was WWE changing its rating on all of its programs to PG.

I think I am all for calling them:

1) The Post Attitude Era: March 2001- Mid-Year 2006
2) The PG Era: Mid-Year 2006-Today